


Doppelganger

by HeartOfAmethyst



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: CS wedding canon, F/F, Fluff, Short One Shot, season 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 17:00:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11718639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartOfAmethyst/pseuds/HeartOfAmethyst
Summary: Emma Swan, after a long day of searching for her family in Hyperion Heights, decides to have a drink at a bar called Roni's.Based on season 7 speculations of the new cursed characters :D (which is no longer speculation as of 8/6/17)





	Doppelganger

**Author's Note:**

> People have been writing out what they think will happen if Emma Swan were to meet our new cursed Regina in Season 7 and one night, I just felt like doing the same.
> 
> Thanks to my partner in crime, Rachel for taking the time to edit my late-night, tired writing.
> 
> CS wedding is canon in this little ficlet, but if it were gonna continue, Emma would be falling for Regina.

                Emma pulled open the door to Roni’s Restaurant and Bar.  It had a refined air about it, despite its place in Hyperion Heights, maybe trying to survive the gentrification that was apparently taking place.  Shabby buildings were intermixed with newer structures and the young rich people who lived in them.  The hostess greeted Emma, “Just you this evening?  Would you like a table?” 

                Emma shook her head.  “Actually, I see my party over there at the bar,” she replied pointing towards an anonymous group of people seated around a high top.  The hostess nodded and directed her to the small staircase that led down into the bar.  Avoiding the women she had just pointed out as friends, Emma slid to the end of the countertop and pulled up a stool.

                She had been looking around the Hyperion Heights neighborhood of Seattle for two days with no sign of Henry, Killian, Regina or Rumple.  She was beginning to wonder if they truly were here or not.    It wasn’t like trying to find someone in Storybrooke, where the town was small and limited by its closed borders.  It seemed that people here could at least get around to other parts of the city.  Whoever put a curse on this set of storybook characters was thinking when they cast the curse.  Or they ruled over a larger realm.  The dark curse had its limits and didn’t bring everyone through when Regina cast it all those years ago.  But maybe not everyone here was cursed, like the mingling everyone feared once the curse was broken and magic brought to Storybrooke.

                She tapped away at her phone, all the old contacts there but no one answering.  It was like all of sudden they just disappeared one day.

                “Alone on a Friday night at a bar, now that’s no fun!  Can I get you anything?”  The bartender asked. Without looking up, Emma replied, “Scotch on the rocks please.”

                “You got it,” the bartender said and walked back down the bar.

                Emma watched her from behind.  She had short, brunette hair wound into curls that bounced slightly as she walked.  She grabbed a few more orders along her way.  Despite the restaurant’s elegant look, she was in a cropped denim jacket that showed off her thin waist.  She turned back to take the scotch to Emma.

                “Regina!” Emma called.  The bartender didn’t react and instead looked behind her to see who Emma had called too.  The bartender was definitely Regina, at least in the face.  She would recognize those eyes and jaw anywhere.  The hair was definitely not Regina, nor the wardrobe.  She turned back to Emma and slowly made her way down the bar.  “Sorry, thought I saw someone I knew over there.  Must have been a doppelganger,” Emma defended.  She remembered how Regina had altered everyone’s memories and gave them new names.  Whoever cast this must have done the same, and Regina didn’t go by Regina now.

                “It’s not a problem,” the bartender replied.  She set the scotch down, holding onto it a little longer as Emma reached for it.  As Emma took a sip, the bartender continued, “I’ve never seen you around here before.  We don’t get many newcomers.”  The comment wasn’t unfriendly, though she seemed genuinely perplexed.

                Emma looked around, the bar and restaurant definitely only catered to one kind of person: women.  There were no men present whatsoever.  She shrugged.  “The sign outside was inviting.  I’m new to town, only been here for a few days.”

                “Ah well, welcome to Roni’s, hopefully the most popular lesbian bar to survive the mess Hyperion Heights is in right now,” she said.  Well, at least this Regina still had her sassiness.  “I’m Veronica, by the way.  Most people call me Roni.”  And that explained the décor.

                Emma withdrew her hands from the countertop, quickly slipping her wedding ring into her pocket.  “So you own this place.  It’s lovely.”

                “Thanks.  I’ve been trying to keep it up with the times, you know?  That real estate investor has been coming and getting places shut down.”  She shook her head.  “Luckily, it hasn’t changed any of my usuals here.”  She looked a bit closer at Emma.  “Though now that I’m paying more attention, are you sure we haven’t met before?  Blondes are kind of my thing.”

                Emma’s eyes went wide, and she stifled a laugh.  “Definitely not, maybe I have a doppelganger in Seattle too.”  She was fighting back a blush.  She could get used to this version of Regina.

                “Well, it was worth a try,” Roni conceded.  “Hey, I have to get back to this other group.  My other bartender cancelled tonight, so I’m manning the whole thing myself.”

                Emma started to say, “Uh, no probl….” when she was interrupted.

                “We usually have a band or musician come in on Saturday nights and the blue plate special is my family’s famous lasagna and I don’t manage on Saturdays, so maybe you’d like to join me?”  This Regina, Veronica, Roni, whoever the hell she thought she was, was asking Emma out after having known her for a grand total of ten minutes.

                Despite a smile, Emma said, “I’m in town for a specific reason and I have a few people to meetup with tomorrow, so probably not.” 

                Roni’s face sunk, dejection written all over her expression.  “Finding your doppelganger friends?  Do you wanna close out?” Roni asked, quickly changing the subject.

                “Yeah, I should be heading back soon anyways,” Emma replied, feeling badly.  Regina wasn’t gonna move on from owning a restaurant in a few days, so she needed to lockdown Killian, Henry and Rumple first.

                Roni returned with a bill, which Emma slipped cash onto as soon as it hit the counter.  “I don’t need any change, thanks.” She assured Roni, who was slipping the receipt over the cash.

                “Just take the receipt, okay?” Roni said.  She kept her head down, before turning and walking back down the bar again.

                Why would I want the receipt, Emma thought to herself, crumpling it up in her hand and shoving it in her pocket.  She downed the rest of her drink and hopped off the bar stool.   She walked towards the door, before turning back to the bar.  Her eyes met Regina’s.  Emma gave a sympathetic smile to her, knowing Roni wouldn’t yet understand what Emma was doing here.  Roni smiled, a queen’s smile to be sure.  Emma shook her head before turning towards the door and exiting.

                Later that night, Emma threw her bag and keys on the hotel bed.  Shoving off her leather jacket, she pulled her wedding ring back out and placed it on her finger.  The crumpled up receipt came along with it and fell to the floor.  Roni had scribbled something on the back.  Emma unfolded the crinkled paper and read the words written in Regina’s handwriting _.  If you change your mind, you can always text me. ;)_   One thing certainly hadn’t changed, and that was Regina, even as Roni, was still a bit socially inept.  Emma crashed onto the bed, reaching for the TV remote.  As the TV turned on, she tapped Roni’s number into her phone.  At least she had that now.

                The Seattle news was playing, detailing a demonstration from a group of people in Hyperion Heights fighting the gentrification that was displacing people from their homes.  Must have missed that, Emma thought, while I was looking for everyone today.  The camera panned across the group of demonstrators, led by a young man.  Led by Henry.  Nothing had changed, except maybe that he was older.  He seemed to be accompanied by a little girl, who resembled him.

                Emma sighed, she had missed many things.  It seemed the curse didn’t take away everything that made her family themselves.  The newscaster announced the group was planning a second demonstration for tomorrow morning and Emma jotted down the location.  Maybe Henry’s belief was strong enough that the curse didn’t affect him.

                As she tried to sleep, she kept thinking about the date Roni had offered up.  Emma didn’t want to lose Regina again.  She pulled her phone off the nightstand.  “Hey, it looks like I may not be as busy tomorrow as I thought.  Was thinking I could join you later for dinner and that band?”

                -End-

 

**Author's Note:**

> That's it! I don't normally write fic but the recent pics and stuff has me really wish we'd get to see something like this happen.


End file.
